Method and system for digital rights enforcement

ABSTRACT

There is provided a method and system for digital rights enforcement. The method includes: determining digital content requested by a user via a selected user device; determining digital rights associated with the digital content; reviewing the digital rights to determine access rights relating to authorized devices for the user; determining whether the user has exhausted the access rights; and if the access rights are exhausted: determining at least one use factor for each of the user&#39;s previously authorized user devices; determining a previously authorized user device on which to revoke access to the digital content based on the at least one use factor; and revoking access rights to the previously authorized user associated device; otherwise downloading the digital content on the selected user device. The system includes a content review module and a revoker module.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to digital rights. Moreparticularly, the present disclosure relates to a method and system fordigital rights enforcement over a plurality of user devices.

BACKGROUND

Digital content is often protected by associated digital rights, forexample, Digital Right Management (DRM) data. DRM is a class of accesscontrol technologies that are used with the intent to limit the use ofdigital content after the sale or distribution of the digital content.DRM describes any technology that inhibits the use of digital content ina manner not intended by the content provider.

According to the related art, on the purchase of digital content, DRM isassociated with the digital content or a device in which to review thedigital content. For example, a compact disc or Blu-ray™ disc may have aregion code associated with the content which only allows playersassociated with that region code to play the disc. In another example,when downloading an electronic book (e-book), a user may be requested tospecify the device which is to receive the content. Only on manipulationof the digital content is the user aware that the rights are limited.Issues can occur when digital content is purchased via an onlinepurchase and the user has multiple devices that are able to display thedigital content, yet the user is limited to using the digital contentonly on the original device that was associated with the purchaseddigital content.

It is, therefore, desirable to provide a method and system for digitalrights management enforcement that mitigates at least one disadvantageof previous systems.

The above information is presented as background information only toassist with an understanding of the present disclosure. No determinationhas been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the abovemight be applicable as prior art with regard to the present disclosure.

SUMMARY

In a first aspect, the present disclosure provides a method for digitalrights enforcement over multiple devices, the method including:determining digital content requested by a user via a selected userdevice; determining digital rights associated with the digital content;determining access rights relating to authorized devices for the userbased at least in part on the digital rights associated with the digitalcontent; determining whether the user has exhausted the access rights;and if the access rights are exhausted: determining at least one usefactor for each of the user's previously authorized user devices;determining a previously authorized user device on which to revokeaccess to the digital content based on the at least one use factor; andrevoking access rights to the previously authorized user associateddevice; otherwise downloading the digital content on the selected userdevice.

In a particular case, the revoking of the access rights to thepreviously authorized user device may occur automatically.

In another particular case, the user may be requested to approve theselection of which previously authorized user associated device torevoke prior to the revoking of the access rights.

In still another particular case, one or more of the at least one usefactor may be selected from the group of: time the digital content wasdownloaded on the user device; last access of the digital content on theuser device; time spent using the digital content on the user device;and frequency of accessing the digital content on the user device.

In yet another particular case, the method may include determining anumber of concurrent downloads requested by the user after determiningthe digital content requested by the user; and if the number ofconcurrent downloads is above a predetermined threshold, waiting for apreset condition to be satisfied before proceeding. In this case, thepreset condition may be the expiry of a predetermined time interval.

In still yet another particular case, the method may include encryptingthe digital content prior to downloading the digital content on theselected user device.

In still another case, the encrypting of the digital content occurscontemporaneous to the request for the digital content.

In a particular case, the method may include displaying a catalogue ofavailable digital content to the user prior to determining the digitalcontent requested by the user.

In another particular case, the displaying of the catalogue may include:determining user data related to the user; and determining cataloguecontent from a learning management system based on the user data.

In still another particular case, the revoking of the access rights mayinclude deleting the digital content from the previously authorized userdevice.

In yet another particular case, the revoking of the access rights mayinclude deleting a decryption key from the previously authorized userdevice.

In still yet another particular case, the revoking access rights mayinclude: monitoring for connection of the previously authorized userdevice to a network; and sending a signal revoking the access rights ofthe previously authorized user device to the previously authorized userdevice to revoke the digital content.

In a particular case, the method may include determining a useridentification; and determining access rights relating to authorizeddevices for the user based at least in part on the user identification.

In another particular case, the user identification identifies the useras either a student or instructor and the determining of the accessrights relating to authorized devices further comprises determine acourse related to the digital content.

In a further embodiment there is provided a system for digital rightsenforcement over multiple devices, the system including: a contentreview module configured to: determine digital content requested by auser via a selected user device; and determine digital rights associatedwith the digital content; and an revoker module configured to: todetermine access rights relating to authorized devices for the userbased at least in part on the digital rights associated with the digitalcontent; determine whether the user has exhausted the access rights; andif the access rights are exhausted: determine at least one use factorfor each of the user's previously authorized user devices; determinewhich previously authorized user device on which to revoke access to thedigital content based on the at least one use factor; and send a revokemessage to revoke the access rights to the previously authorized userdevice; otherwise allow the download of the digital content on theselected user device.

In a particular case, the system may include an enforcement moduleconfigured to revoke the access rights on the previously authorized userdevice.

In another particular case, the revoker module may be further configureto provide a prompt to the user wherein the user is requested to approvethe selection of which previously authorized user device to revoke priorto the revoking of the access rights.

In still another particular case, one or more of the at least one usefactor may be selected from the group of: time the digital content wasdownloaded on the user device; last access of the digital content on theuser device; time spent using the digital content on the user device;and frequency of accessing the digital content on the user device.

In yet another particular case, the content review module may be furtherconfigured to: determine a number of concurrent downloads requested bythe user after determining the digital content requested by the user;and if the number of concurrent downloads is above a predeterminedthreshold, wait a predetermined time interval before proceeding.

In still yet another particular case, the content review module may befurther configured to: encrypt the digital content prior to downloadingthe digital content on the selected user device.

In a particular case, the system may include a display module configuredto display a catalogue of available digital content to the user.

In another particular case, the enforcement module may be configured torevoke the access rights by deleting the digital content from thepreviously authorized user device.

In still another particular case, the enforcement module may beconfigured to revoke the access rights by deleting a decryption key fromthe previously authorized user device.

Other aspects and features of the present disclosure will becomeapparent to those ordinarily skilled in the art upon review of thefollowing description of specific embodiments in conjunction with theaccompanying figures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the present disclosure will now be described, by way ofexample only, with reference to the attached Figures.

FIG. 1 illustrates a system for digital rights management enforcementfor a plurality of devices according to an example embodiment;

FIG. 2 illustrates an embodiment of a user device for a system fordigital rights management enforcement for a plurality of devices;

FIG. 3 illustrates an embodiment of a network device for a system fordigital rights management enforcement for a plurality of devices

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a method for digital rightsmanagement enforcement for a plurality of devices according to anexample embodiment; and

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating content removal from a deviceaccording to an example embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description with reference to the accompanying drawings isprovided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of exampleembodiments of the system and method as defined by the claims and theirequivalents. The following description includes various specific detailsto assist in that understanding but these are to be regarded as merelyexemplary. Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art willrecognize that various changes and modifications of the embodimentsdescribed herein can be made without departing from the scope and spiritof the invention as defined by the claims. In addition, descriptions ofwell-known functions and constructions may be omitted for clarity andconciseness.

The terms and words used in the following description and claims are notlimited to the bibliographical meanings, but, are merely used by theinventor to enable a clear and consistent understanding of theembodiments of the method and system described herein. Accordingly, itshould be apparent to those skilled in the art that the followingdescription of example embodiments is provided for illustration purposeonly and not for the purpose of limiting the invention as defined by theappended claims and their equivalents.

Generally, the present disclosure provides a method and system fordigital rights enforcement on a plurality of devices. In particular, theembodiments of the system and method detailed herein provide for thedigital rights, for example the Digital Rights Management (DRM)information, to be enforced on a plurality of devices associated with auser. Further, the system and method provide for revoking access todigital content from a device if the user wishes to load the digitalcontent on another device but has reached a maximum number of authorizeddevices. In some cases, the device from which the access to digitalcontent is revoked is selected based on at least one use factorincluding, for example, time since digital content was downloaded, timesince last content was last reviewed, time content was reviewed ondevice, and the like.

Control over digital content is increasingly important as users acceptand adapt to new forms of media. Users are able to access digitalcontent (which is generally covered by copyright and sometimes referredto as copyright content) through a variety of computing devices, forexample, electronic books or readers, tablet computers, smart phones,netbooks, laptops, and the like. Users may have access to a plurality ofcomputing devices and may wish to view electronic content on each of theplurality of computing devices depending on the situation of each user.

FIG. 1 illustrates a system 100 for digital rights enforcement for aplurality of user devices according to an example embodiment. Referringto FIG. 1, the system 100 may include at least one user device 110, anda network device 120 and is operatively connected to a network 130, athird party server 240 and a learning management system 250.

At least one user 105 a, via at least one user device 110 a-110 c,accesses the network device 120 via the network 130. Another user 105 b,may also access the network device 120 via at least one user device 110d-110 e. The user devices 110 a-110 e may be, for example, an electronicbook, an electronic reader, a tablet computer, a smart phone, a laptop,a desktop, a gaming console (handheld or stationary), or the like. Thenetwork device 120 may be a separate computing device configured totransmit and receive data related to one or more services orapplications that run on one or more user devices 110. The networkdevice 120 may be a stand-alone device or an arrangement of two or moredevices working in conjunction with each other. In some cases, thenetwork device 120 may be a component or a module of the learningmanagement system 250. The network 130 may be the Internet, a Local AreaNetwork (LAN), a Wide Area Network (WAN), a Personal Area Network (PAN),an enterprise network, a Virtual Private Network (VPN), or the like. Thethird party server 240, may be, for example, a web server, a Google™drive, a server of Amazon™ cloud services, or the like.

FIG. 2 illustrates the user device 110 according to an exampleembodiment. The user device 110 includes an output module 140, aconnection module 150, an enforcement module 160, a memory module 170and a processing module 180.

The user 105 accesses the system via a user device 110. Each user device110 includes, for example, the output module 140 configured to displaydigital content to the user 105. It will be understood that other formsof output may also be anticipated, such as audio output, and the likebut for the purposes of this embodiment reference is made to a display.The display may also be configured to receive input from the user, forexample a touch screen, or the user device may have alternative inputcomponents. Each user device 110 may have network capabilities via, forexample, the connection module 150. The connection module may beconfigured to receive communication from and transmit communication tothe network device 120, the learning management system 250, and thirdparty servers 240, typically via the network 130.

The user device 110 further includes the enforcement module 160 which isconfigured to retrieve and enforce the digital rights, such as the DRM,associated with the digital content. The user device includes theprocessing module 180 configured to execute instructions received fromthe system 100 and the memory module 170, for example, a database forstoring, for example, digital content, DRM, use factors, or the like.

When the user 105 requests digital content, for example, an electronicbook, a game, a video, an image, an audio recording, or the like, theuser device 110 transmits the request via the connection module 150 tothe network device 120.

FIG. 3 illustrates the network device 120 according to an exampleembodiment. The network device may include a connection module 190, acontent review module 200, a revoker module 210, a memory module 220 anda processor module 230.

The connection module 190 of the network device 120 receives the requestfrom the user device 110 and may transmit the request for digitalcontent to the processor module 230 for processing. The content reviewmodule 200 is configured to retrieve the digital content requested bythe user. The content review module 200 is further configured todetermine the DRM associated with the requested digital content. In somecases, the DRM may be stored in the memory module 220.

The content review module 200 is configured to retrieve the digitalcontent associated with or requested by the user 105 a accessing thesystem 100. The content review module 200 is further configured todetermine the DRM based on the digital content selected by the user 105or any specific DRM that may be associated with the user 105 accessingthe digital content. In some cases, the content review module maydetermine the user's identification, for example the user may beidentified as a student, teacher, administrator, publisher, author, orthe like, and only specific digital content may be available to the userand the content may vary depending on the user's role. In an example, astudent user may only have access to an ebook (the digital content) fora limited number of days, for example, 2 days, 90 days, 180 days or thelike, while a separate instructor user may have access to the ebook foran unlimited number of days. Further, the student user may be limited inthe amount of text the student has access to copy, while the instructoruser may have unlimited amount or have a higher limit in the amount oftext the instructor has access to copy.

In some cases, the content review module 200 is configured to query thelearning management system 250 to determine user data, for example, roleof the user, courses associated with the user, course dates for enrolledcourses, and the like. The content review module 200 may be furtherconfigured to query third party servers, such as third party server 240,to determine the digital content requested by the user and/or the DRMassociated with the digital content.

The revoker module 210 is configured to retrieve the DRM associatedaccess rights for the user. In some cases, the DRM will provide therevoker module 210 with the number of authorized devices for the userwith respect to the requested digital content, for example, the numberof copies or devices allowed to host and/or store the digital content ata given period in time. The revoker module 210 is further configured todetermine the previously authorized user devices which have previouslydownloaded the content and on which the content remains active andaccessible to the user. If downloading the additional copy of thedigital content requested by the user 105 will give the user access tomore than the maximum number of authorized devices allowed, the revokermodule 210 will revoke at least one previously authorized device by, forexample, disabling or removing the digital content on the previouslyauthorized device. In some case, the revoker module 210 reviews at leastone use factor to determine which user device 110 should be revoked, andsends a revoke message to the user device 110. In other cases, therevoker module 210 reviews a plurality of use factors to determine whichuser device the user is least likely to require use of the digitalcontent and send a revoke message to that user device. In still othercases, the revoker module 210 may request user input to determine whichuser device 110 should be revoked prior to revoking the user device, forexample, by presenting a list of user devices having the content andallowing a selection of the device to be revoked.

The memory module 220 may be a database within the network device 120,or may be operatively connected to the network device 120. The memorymodule 220 may be operatively connected to the content review module 200and the revoker module 210 and may be configured to store user data,digital content, DRM, user data, use factors and the like. The networkdevice 120 further includes a processing module 230 configured toexecute the instructions and/or commands of the other modules. In somecases, the processing module 230 may be the central processing unit ofthe network device, in other cases, the processing module may bedistributed and each module may include a separate processor.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a method 300 for digital rightsmanagement enforcement for multiple devices according to an exampleembodiment.

At 310, the user 105 b accesses the system 100 via the user device 110d. On accessing the system 100, the content review module 200 determinesa catalogue of available digital content for the user 105 b. Thecatalogue may be retrieved from the memory module 220 or may be derivedby, for example, querying third party servers 240 and/or the learningmanagement system 250 to determine the digital content the user 105 b isauthorized to download. In some cases, the user 105 b may have theoption of viewing a plurality of catalogues, for example, a catalogue ofdigital content already purchased by the user, a catalogue of digitalcontent required for upcoming courses in which the user is enrolled, acatalogue of digital content that might interest the user based on pastpurchases, or the like.

Each user may have individualized catalogues based on the associateduser data, for example, the user's role, the user's past behavior, theuser's upcoming courses, or the like. The catalogue may provide detailto the user of the digital content available, the DRM associated withthe content, the cost, and the like. The catalogue may further providean input component, such as a link, a button, or the like, where theuser can select specific digital content.

At 320, the user requests to download a selected digital content and theuser device 110 transmits the request to an appropriate server hostingthe content requested by the user. Once the request has been made, theuser may be directed to a secure page in order to confirm the user idand login via a password or other confirmation technique. In some cases,the user may have already been authenticated via the network to anetwork device prior to requesting a download of a selected content. Ifthe user is requesting to download digital content not previouslypurchased, the user may further be requested to enter payment details.In some cases, if the user is requesting to download digital contentwhich has previously been purchased and downloaded by the user, the usermay be requested to specify a user device to receive the digitalcontent. In other cases, the user may be presented with a list ofdevices associated with the user, and the user can select a specificdevice. In still other cases, the system 100 will assume the content isto be downloaded on the user device the user is currently using toaccess the system 100.

At 330, the status of the user may be checked, for example by thenetwork 120 device querying the user device 110, the processor module230 of the network device querying the memory 220 if the status isstored by the network device 120, or the like. The status of the user isreviewed to determine the user's status with respect to ongoingdownloads. The number of active user downloads is compared against apredetermined threshold. In some cases, the threshold may be manuallyentered by, for example, an administrator, a publisher, an author, asuper user or the like of the system 100. In other cases, the thresholdmay be automatically configured based on the bandwidth capabilities ofthe user device requesting the download and the bandwidth available tothe network device and/or third party server currently hosting thedigital content. In some cases, the threshold may be limited to a smallnumber of concurrent downloads, for example, 2, 3, 5 or the like.

At 340, system may block the user from downloading the requested digitalcontent due to the number of concurrent downloads. In some cases, theuser may receive a prompt or message stating the due to the ongoingdownloads the user is requested to wait until at least one downloadfinishes before requesting another download of the digital content. Inother cases, the user may be returned to the catalogue of availabledigital content and may only be notified that the download failed.

Limiting the number of concurrent downloads is also intended to reducethe number of illegitimate downloads occurring on a user's account. Inan example, the user may purchase the digital content and then providethe user id and secure login information to other users, or have theuser id and secure login information hacked by other users. Other usersmay be able to download the digital content and may attempt to do so atthe same time. In some cases, if the user is blocked, the user may berequired to wait for a preset condition to be satisfied beforeproceeding, for example, waiting for a download to be completed, waitingfor predetermined time interval, or the like prior to requesting anotherdownload. In some cases, the predetermined time interval may be, forexample 30 seconds 1 minute, 5 minutes, or the like. In some cases, thepredetermined time interval may be adjusted depending on the number ofdownloads being attempted simultaneously. The more simultaneous attemptsto download the digital content, the longer the predetermined timeinterval the user must wait prior to providing a new download request.By including a time interval, it is intended that the fraudulent usersmay be dissuaded or discouraged from downloading the digital content.

At 350, if the user's current downloads including the download of therequested digital content are below the predetermined downloadthreshold, the user will receive a ticket indicating the download willprogress shortly. The content review module 200 retrieves the digitalcontent and the associated DRM and is further configured to encrypt thedigital content. In some cases, the content review module 200 willtransmit the digital content and associated DRM to another networkdevice or third party server for encryption.

At 360, the revoker module 210 determines the access rights andpreviously authorized devices associated with the digital content, forexample, the number of user devices that have previously downloaded thedigital content and in which the content has not been revoked. Therevoker module 210 further reviews the DRM to determine the accessrights associated with the digital content, for example, the number ofsimultaneous authorized devices the user is permitted. If the user hasnot exhausted the access rights, the revoker module 210 is configured toallow the download to proceed.

At 370, if the revoker module 210 determines that the user has exhaustedthe access rights. If the requested download will result in moreauthorized devices hosting the digital content than the access rightsallow, the revoker module 210 will send a revoke notification or messageto at least one of the previously authorized devices currently hosting adownloaded copy of the digital content.

The revoker module 210 may determine which previously authorized userdevice to revoke the digital content by reviewing at least one usefactors, for example, time the digital content was downloaded, lastaccess of the digital content, time spent using the digital content,frequency the digital content is accessed, or the like. In some cases,only a single use factor may be reviewed, for example, the revokermodule 210 may determine to revoke the user device which has the oldestdownload request and revoke the digital content from that device. Inother cases, the revoker module 210 will review a plurality of usefactors and determine which previously authorized user device is leastlikely to be used to review the digital content in the future or whichdevice has been used the least in the past and revoke that device. Inother cases, the revoker module 210 may request user input to determinewhich device should be revoked. The revoker module 210 may determinethat the digital content needs to be removed from at least one of aplurality of previously authorized devices and may list the plurality ofuser devices and the user may select which device to revoke.

At 380, the user may experience a delay or a progress screen which isintended to allow time for the digital content to be encrypted. Thedigital content may be retrieved from publishers and hosted on, forexample, third party servers, the learning management system, or thelike, and is generally protected so that no unauthorized user can obtainaccess to the digital content. One way to protect the content is toencrypt the digital content for each user. The encryption key may be aone-time use key. Possible encryption schemes are described in Table 1,below, although those skilled in the art may be aware of furtherschemes, or may combine the schemes described below. Even with thedigital content being encrypted, there may still be possibility that arogue or fraudulent user may obtain the decryption key on the user oruser's device, for example, jailbroken iPad, rooted Android, web clientthrough javascript inspection, or the like.

TABLE 1 Encryption Schemes Name Description Pros and Cons Custom Usingan encryption algorithm can be encrypted in real- Encryp- such asAdvanced Encyption time with very good server tion Standard (AES) toencrypt an side performance entire PDF document. User web client cannotdecrypt device downloads the entire the entire file in memory. encrypteddocument, decrypts, iOS client takes a while to then renders the PDFdecrypt the file. However, document. because of memory constraints, thedecrypted file is saved to memory before sending to the renderer. Thisleaves plaintext file on disk Custom Divide PDF into portions, andEncryption can be done in Encryp- then use an encryption such asreal-time. Portioning needs tion AES to encrypt the portions. to be doneat content with ingestion time Portioning table of contents will bebroken annotations are page- specific, and therefore needs to bereconstructed and saved properly by the client full text search isbroken, would require server to generate indexing PDF Use PDF passwordprotection, password protected PDFs Native which encrypts objects insideare secure Encryp- the PDF file. This is part of the can be loadeddirectly into tion PDF spec. Available encryption rendering library, andalgorithms include RC4 up to decryption happens on-the- 128-bit and AESup to 256-bit. fly bookmarks, annotations, full text search, are allpreserved PDF specific encryption, i.e. to encrypt other file types, newmechanism is required.

As the user waits, the system 100 encrypts the digital content the userhas requested.

At 390, the download of the encrypted digital content is requested bythe network device 120 to download the digital content to the userdevice.

At 400, the download status is checked. In some cases, the system 100will be determined that the encryption has yet to finish, and the userwill be returned to wait for a further predetermined interval of timebefore the download is re-requested to provide time for the encryptionto finish. In other cases, the system 100 may determine that anon-downloadable condition has occurred, for example, the content doesnot exist, the content failed to encrypt, another error has occurred,the user is no longer connected, or the like. In some cases, forexample, if the user session connection may time out, the user may needto re-login. The user may be returned to the catalogue to request afurther download or be redirected to similar content to download, if anon-downloadable condition has occurred.

At 410, in still other cases, the user device will be redirected toreceive the content from a third party server 240 or third party contenthost. The user device may download the content from the network device,if the content is located there, or the user device may receive thecontent from a third party server after being directed to the server bythe content review module 200 of the network device 120.

At 420, the encrypted content is saved to the memory module 170 of theuser's device.

At 430, the user may be notified when the download is complete and theuser can access the digital content on the user device.

In an example, the processing module 230 may load the entire digitalcontent prior to encrypting the digital content to ensure the entiredigital content is encrypted. Various libraries may be used, forexample:

-   -   i. Aspose;    -   ii. EO pdf;    -   iii. iText;    -   iv. Docotic;    -   v. Apache PDFBox;    -   vi. PDFSecure;    -   vii. Etc.

In some cases, the digital content may allow for a plurality ofdownloads while other digital content may only allow for the user tohave the content on a single authorized device. The specific digitalcontent may also allow for a different access rights depending on theuser data. For example, a professor may be able to have specific digitalcontent on three authorized user devices, while a student may be limitedto a single authorized device for the same digital content.

FIG. 5 illustrates a method 500 for content removal from a user deviceaccording to an example embodiment.

At 510, the user logs into or otherwise accesses the system 100.

At 520, the system 100 retrieves the device has a device identifier ordevice ID.

At 530, if the device does not have a device ID, the user devicegenerates a unique device ID for the user's device. In some cases, thedevice ID will be associated with the user data and or useridentification.

At 540, the enforcement module 160 determines a catalogue of availabledigital content for the user by reviewing the digital content stored inthe memory module 170 of the user device. The enforcement module 160 mayfurther be in communication with the content review module 200 todetermine other digital content available to the user.

At 550, the enforcement module 160 further reviews metadata related tothe digital content of the catalogue and the user. In some cases, themetadata will be stored locally in the memory module 170. In othercases, the enforcement module 160 may retrieve the metadata from thenetwork device 120. In other case, the metadata may be transmitted tothe previously authorized user devices, when the user requests adownload of digital content on a different user device.

At 560, the enforcement module 160 determines if any of the metadatarequiring digital content to be revoked is associated with the deviceID. In some cases, the metadata may specifically list device ID's to berevoked. In other case, the metadata may only list device IDs which areauthorized devices permitted to have downloaded copies of the digitalcontent.

At 570, the enforcement module 160 will review whether the user devicecontains content that needs to be revoked and deleted. In some cases,the enforcement module 160 will determine the device has digital contentbut the device ID is not listed as a permitted device.

At 580, the enforcement module 160 will delete or otherwise remove thecontent. In some cases, the enforcement module 160 may remove thedecryption key as opposed to deleting the content. Removing the key mayrevoke access to the user on the user device but is intended to allowfor access to be reinstated more quickly. If the user requests access toa revoked but previously authorized user device, the user may simplyrequire the key and not be required to download the digital contentagain. Downloading the key is intended to be quicker and require lessbandwidth than downloading the digital content. Removing the key may bepreferred by users that may have downloading quotas or caps.

At 590, the display module 150 displays the catalogue for the user andthe user can select digital content to review.

In some cases, the user may already be logged in or otherwise accessingthe system 100 when the user device receives metadata stating that thedevice is revoked in relation to the digital content. The user device,for example an android tablet, may be set to receive updates even if theuser is not currently using the application to view the digital content,or not using the user device at the time of the update. In this case,the enforcement module 170 may delete or otherwise revoke the content inthe background, without the user accessing the catalogue of data.

In some cases, the metadata may be pushed to the device from the networkdevice at predetermined intervals, for example, every 5 minutes, every30 minutes, every download request by a user, every completed downloadby a user, or the like. In other cases, the user device may periodicallyping the network device for updates to the metadata, for example, everytime the user logs in, every 30 minutes, once a day, or the like.

In some cases, if the user device to be revoked is not connected to thenetwork, the digital content may not be revoked until the user connectsthe device. This scenario may allow the user to temporarily have morethan the maximum number of authorized devices hosting the digitalcontent. As such, when the user attempts to access the digital contenton a device not connected to the network, the user may receive a promptrequesting the user to connect the device prior to accessing the digitalcontent.

In other cases, the user may be requested to connect a previouslyauthorized device to the network if it is determined that the device hasreceived a revoke message but has not yet connected to the system 100.For example, a user may request to download digital content on a userdevice. The system 100 determines that a previous revoke messagerelating to the selected digital content or to other digital content hasbeen sent, but the authorized device has not yet revoked the digitalcontent. The user may be requested to connect the authorized device tothe network prior to being permitted to download the selected digitalcontent.

Table 2 illustrates an example of determining content catalogue for auser, wherein the device ID's listed are device ID's allowed to accessthe digital content. The example is provided for illustrative purposesonly and one skilled in the art will understand that there is aplurality of ways to determine whether a user device continues to haveaccess to digital content or if the content should be deleted.

TABLE 2 Determining content catalogue Service End <URL>/content PointHTTP GET Method Request showall OPTIONAL Set to “true” to return allParameters content regardless of transcode state and “false” to returnonly content which has completed transcoding. The default is “false”.synckey OPTIONAL This property allows for incremental sync of contentchanges from the server. Default value is 0 which will perform a fullsync and not return any records marked as deleted. Use the returnedsynckey value from previous content request to perform incremental syncResponse Code SUCCESS Data FULL_SYNC_REQUIRED - resend request withsynckey set to 0 and perform a full sync synckey (Long) the currenthighest synckey for all records assigned to the user. This value canthen be sent in to subsequent requests to perform an incremental syncdata - Array of contents Id ID of the content Name Name of the contentMime MIME type of the content e.g. application/epub+zip descriptionDescription of the content filename Filename of the content Size size ofthe content in bytes policy_expires time of when the content expires. Inseconds since 1970 prescriberid ID of the user who assigned this contentusertags user-level tags on the content. Contains tag, and type. Typecan be TEXT, SYSTEM. Read Boolean archived Boolean favorite BooleanIsnew Boolean md5 MD5 hash of the file sourcecontentid content id fromthe source sourcecontentversion content version from the sourcetranscodestate 2 = not started, 1 = transcoding, 0 = success, −1 =failed. deviceids an array of device ids where the content is downloadto. If this array does not contain your device id and the content is onthe device, remove this content from the device. Sample Response: {″code″: ″SUCCESS″, “synckey”: 1357658177, ″data″: [ { ″id″:″aeff3ae2-4a2c-4f48-ae55-757e2e186854″, ″name″: ″Objective-C″, ″mime″:″application/pdf″, ″description″: ″A guide to objective-c for c++developers″, ″filename″: ″cpp-objc-en.pdf″, ″size″: 888248,″policy_expires″: 4492590490, ″prescriberid″: ″rivet_basicUSERID″,″usertags″: [ { ″tag″: ″c++″, ″type″: ″TEXT″ }, { ″tag″: ″objective-c″,″type″: ″TEXT″ }, { ″tag″: ″guide″, ″type″: ″TEXT″ } ], deviceids:[{″id″:″ a448b1ef-7ef3-46d9-a768-cd3a30e27d12″, ″dateadded″:1370054729},{ ″id″:″ g418b3ef-7ef3-46d9-a718- ba3a30e17d11″,″dateadded″: 1370054729}] }, { ″id″:″d6f73587-8f38-43d5-bd83-b9279c843bc2″, ″name″: ″Key Out Of Time″,″mime″: ″application/epub+zip″, ″filename″: ″key_out_of_time.epub″,″size″: 213639, ″policy_expires″: 4492590490, ″prescriberid″:″rivet_basicUSERID″, ″usertags″: [ ] }, { ″id″:″f408b3ef-7ef3-46d9-a768-cd3a30e27d12″, ″name″: ″Demo Feedback for RivetReader″, ″mime″: ″application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet″, ″description″: ″excel sheet forgathering feedback″, ″filename″: ″Demo Feedback Asks for RivetReaderv1.0 - 061912.xlsx″, ″size″: 16638, ″author″: ″Aaron Stuart″,″publisher″: ″D2L″, ″policy_expires″: 4492590490, ″prescriberid″:″rivet_basicUSERID″, ″usertags″: [ { ″tag″: ″rivet″, ″type″: ″TEXT″ }] }] } Scope binder_consume_content Required

In one example, a student accesses the system 100 via a user device, forexample a tablet computer. The display module 110 displays a catalogueof available material to the student. The student wishes to download atextbook that the student has previously downloaded on his laptopcomputer and on his smart phone as the student plans to return home forthe weekend and does not wish to bring the laptop computer with him. Thestudent requests the download of the textbook to the tablet computer.The system 100 determines that the maximum number of authorized devicesis two and to download the digital content on the tablet computer, thedigital content will need to be revoked on either the laptop computer ormobile phone. The system 100 may review use factors and determine thatthe smart phone was the first to download the digital content and thedigital content has been accesses more frequently, more recently and forlonger intervals on the laptop computer. As such, the system 100 maydetermine to revoke the digital content on the smart phone. In somecases, the system 100 may review only a single use factor, for example,the first device to request the download may be revoked. In other cases,the system 100 may suggest a user device to revoke and may prompt thestudent to agree to the selection or to modify the selection. In stillother cases, the student may be presented with a list of current deviceshosting the digital content and the student selects which device torevoke. The system 100 then encrypts or provides for the encryption ofthe digital content and the tablet computer downloads the encryptedtextbook. The digital content is revoked by deleting or otherwiseremoving the textbook from the smartphone or by deleting or otherwiseremoving the key to access the textbook.

In another example, the access rights may specify different maximumauthorized devices depending on the device type. For example, the accessrights may allow the user a single laptop or desktop computer to hostthe device, but may allow the user to have two handheld portablecommunication devices, for example two smartphones, or a smart phone anda tablet. The revoker module 210 may determine the type of device hasbeen previously authorized to determine whether the user has exhaustedthe access rights. In some cases, the user may attempt to download thedigital content on a type of device that has exhausted access rights.The revoker module 210 may revoke the previously authorized device ofthe same type or, prior to revoking the device may inform the user thatalthough the user has exhausted the access rights with respect to thistype of device, the user may still download the digital content on aseparate type of device to see if the user would prefer to download thedigital content on an the different type of device.

In yet another example, a user may download a component of the selecteddigital content. For example, the user may wish to download only achapter of a textbook. The access rights may only allow a singleauthorized download but may allow the components to be downloaded onseparate device. For example, if the student is accessing a textbook,the student may be select to download chapters 1 to 3 on a laptop. Thestudent then may access the system 100 with a tablet computer andrequest the download of chapters 3 and 4 for the tablet device. Therevoker module 210 may revoke chapter 3 from the laptop but may leavechapters 1 and 2 as the user has not requested to download thosecomponents of the selected digital content. After sending the revocationto the laptop with respect to chapter 3, the user may then downloadchapters 3 and 4 onto the tablet computer.

In the preceding description, for purposes of explanation, numerousdetails are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding ofthe embodiments. However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the artthat these specific details may not be required. In other instances,well-known structures are shown in block diagram form in order not toobscure the understanding. For example, specific details are notprovided as to whether the embodiments described herein are implementedas a software routine, hardware circuit, firmware, or a combinationthereof.

Embodiments of the disclosure can be represented as a computer programproduct stored in a machine-readable medium (also referred to as acomputer-readable medium, a processor-readable medium, or a computerusable medium having a computer-readable program code embodied therein).The machine-readable medium can be any suitable tangible, non-transitorymedium, including magnetic, optical, or electrical storage mediumincluding a diskette, compact disk read only memory (CD-ROM), memorydevice (volatile or non-volatile), or similar storage mechanism. Themachine-readable medium can contain various sets of instructions, codesequences, configuration information, or other data, which, whenexecuted, cause a processor to perform steps in a method according to anembodiment of the disclosure. Those of ordinary skill in the art willappreciate that other instructions and operations necessary to implementthe described implementations can also be stored on the machine-readablemedium. The instructions stored on the machine-readable medium can beexecuted by a processor or other suitable processing device, and caninterface with circuitry to perform the described tasks.

The above-described embodiments are intended to be examples only.Alterations, modifications and variations can be effected to theparticular embodiments by those of skill in the art without departingfrom the scope, which is defined solely by the claims appended hereto.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for digital rights enforcement overmultiple devices, the method comprising: determining digital contentrequested by a user via a selected user device; determining digitalrights associated with the digital content; determining access rightsrelating to authorized devices for the user based at least in part onthe digital rights associated with the digital content; determiningwhether the user has exhausted the access rights; and if the accessrights are exhausted: determining at least one use factor for each ofthe user's previously authorized user devices; determining a previouslyauthorized user device on which to revoke access to the digital contentbased on the at least one use factor; and revoking access rights to thepreviously authorized user associated device; otherwise downloading thedigital content on the selected user device.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein the revoking of the access rights to the previously authorizeduser device occurs automatically.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein theuser is requested to approve the selection of which previouslyauthorized user associated device to revoke prior to the revoking of theaccess rights.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein one or more of the atleast one use factor is selected from the group of: time the digitalcontent was downloaded on the user device; last access of the digitalcontent on the user device; time spent using the digital content on theuser device; and frequency of accessing the digital content on the userdevice.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining anumber of concurrent downloads requested by the user after determiningthe digital content requested by the user; and if the number ofconcurrent downloads is above a predetermined threshold, waiting for apreset condition to be satisfied before proceeding.
 6. The method ofclaim 5, wherein the preset condition is the expiry of a predeterminedtime interval.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising: encryptingthe digital content prior to downloading the digital content on theselected user device.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the encryptingof the digital content occurs contemporaneous to the request for thedigital content.
 9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:displaying a catalogue of available digital content to the user prior todetermining the digital content requested by the user.
 10. The method ofclaim 9, wherein the displaying of the catalogue comprises: determininguser data related to the user; and determining catalogue content from alearning management system based on the user data.
 11. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the revoking of the access rights comprises deletingthe digital content from the previously authorized user device.
 12. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the revoking of the access rights comprisesdeleting a decryption key from the previously authorized user device.13. The method of claim 1, wherein the revoking access rights comprises:monitoring for connection of the previously authorized user device to anetwork; and sending a signal revoking the access rights of thepreviously authorized user device to the previously authorized userdevice to revoke the digital content.
 14. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: determining a user identification; and determining accessrights relating to authorized devices for the user based at least inpart on the user identification.
 15. The method of claim 14, wherein theuser identification identifies the user as either a student orinstructor and the determining of the access rights relating toauthorized devices further comprises determining a course related to thedigital content.
 16. A system for digital rights enforcement overmultiple devices, the system comprising: a content review moduleconfigured to: determine digital content requested by a user via aselected user device; and determine digital rights associated with thedigital content; and an revoker module configured to: determine accessrights relating to authorized devices for the user based at least inpart on the digital rights associated with the digital content;determine whether the user has exhausted the access rights; and if theaccess rights are exhausted: determine at least one use factor for eachof the user's previously authorized user devices; determine whichpreviously authorized user device on which to revoke access to thedigital content based on the at least one use factor; and send a revokemessage to revoke the access rights to the previously authorized userdevice; otherwise allow the download of the digital content on theselected user device.
 17. The system of claim 16 further comprising anenforcement module configured to revoke the access rights on thepreviously authorized user device.
 18. The system of claim 16 whereinthe revoker module is further configure to provide a prompt to the userwherein the user is requested to approve the selection of whichpreviously authorized user device to revoke prior to the revoking of theaccess rights.
 19. The system of claim 16 wherein one or more of the atleast one use factor is selected from the group of: time the digitalcontent was downloaded on the user device; last access of the digitalcontent on the user device; time spent using the digital content on theuser device; and frequency of accessing the digital content on the userdevice.
 20. The system of claim 16 wherein the content review module isfurther configured to: determine a number of concurrent downloadsrequested by the user after determining the digital content requested bythe user; and if the number of concurrent downloads is above apredetermined threshold, wait a predetermined time interval beforeproceeding.
 21. The system of claim 16 wherein the content review moduleis further configured to: encrypt the digital content prior todownloading the digital content on the selected user device.
 22. Thesystem of claim 16 further comprising: a display module configured todisplay a catalogue of available digital content to the user.
 23. Thesystem of claim 17 wherein the enforcement module is configured torevoke the access rights by deleting the digital content from thepreviously authorized user device.
 24. The system of 17 wherein theenforcement module is configured to revoke the access rights by deletinga decryption key from the previously authorized user device.